It's Not Running Away
by LaberaiTashio
Summary: Life was pretty good but then he left us. But someone was there to help pick me back up onto my feet...and then the bastard had to come back. AU ItaxSak


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters. I own this story and that's that.**

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I need to get out of here. Now. There is no way in hell I'm going to be in the same room as him. I refuse. Why? Cause I'm going to punch him in the face…Multiple times.

"Sakura, you are in charge of watching over Uchiha Sasuke for the next couple of weeks. This is not a request," Tsunade told me while staring at me intently. She was trying to see what I was going to do.

Looking between the jerk-face and the principle of the school, I narrowed my eyes and simple stated flatly, "No. I'm afraid that I will have to deny this…order of yours. You see, I am too personally and emotionally attached to be able to do this job correctly. Find someone else."

Tsunade tensed and Sasuke looked highly amused. Oh, I bet he thinks this whole situation is funny. He used to be one of my best friends you see. That is, until he decided to ditch us to be with more "sophisticated people".

"Haruno Sakura, you will put aside your personal feelings and do this," Tsunade ordered.

"What's wrong Sakura? I'd thought you'd want to hang out with me anyway. It's been so long since we've seen each other," Sasuke sighed out, looking like a kicked puppy.

Lifting my nose at him, I sneered out, "You're so full of yourself, you know that? You're one of the last people I would want to hang out with. Especially with what you did the last time we did hang out. So cut the crap and stop looking like a kicked puppy. The day you decided your friends meant nothing to you, was the day I decided I really didn't like you." Turning back to Tsunade, I bowed and then left the room, with Tsunade yelling after me and Sasuke staring at my back.

'I'm a senior in high school. It's my last year of high school before I go to college. I will not punch Sasuke in the face if he comes near me. I will not do bodily damage to him if he comes near me.' I chanted to myself as I left the office. I decided to ditch the rest of my classes for the day. It's not like the teachers would drop my grade for missing one day of school. I was the top student here at the school and I even did the teachers favors, so there. I went to the roof and as soon as I reached to fence that kept me from falling off the top of the building, I took a deep breath, whipped out my cell and dialed a very familiar number, hit the call button and lifted the phone to my ear. "Please pick up…"

"Hello," came the familiar baritone voice.

Sighing in relief, I asked, "How are you?"

"Busy with homework, as usual. Is everything alright?"

I paused as I thought how I would word what I was going to say. "Your brother's here at the school. Tsunade has decided to make him my charge for the next couple of weeks or so."

There was a long pause and shuffling of paper on the other end before he finally responded. "Why is Sasuke at your high school?"

I scoffed out, "Beats me. I thought I wouldn't have to see his annoying face for a long time. I mean, he didn't want to associate with "my kind of people" right before he left, so I don't understand why he came back."

"Sasuke's supposed to be in Europe, Sakura. He shouldn't be anywhere near Japan."

Narrowing my eyes in concentration, I tried to think of why he was back but I kept drawing blanks. I may have knew him back when we were kids, but the Sasuke I had seen earlier was definitely different. Not that I'm surprised, but whatever. Pinching the bridge of my nose with my free hand, I stood straight, took a breath and let it out.

"You didn't punch him did you?" came the amused tone from the other end.

My lips quirked into a small smile, "Yet. If I stayed in the room any longer, I would have. Regardless if Tsunade was there or not." I paused for a brief second. "I should have anyway…"

A small laugh was heard before he asked, "Are you still coming by after school?"

I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous question and dropped my hand away from my face. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I? Because your dick-face of a brother decides to show up out of nowhere? Psht. As if. I'm coming over. What do you want for dinner tonight?"

"Surprise me…" came the seductive response.

"Well, if you wanted that kind of dinner, you only need to ask. No need to be coy…"

"You almost went into shock the last time I asked."

"Well, it was definitely a shock to me. I mean, I didn't know you liked that."

"Hn…Yes, you were quite surprised by that, weren't you? You blushed so hard when I requested foreplay."

"Itachi. Focus. We're talking about hamburgers for crying out loud. How the hell did you jump topics so quickly?"

"…And? I do not jump topics Sakura. I merely connect similar topics."

"And nothing. Oh yes, I can totally see the correlation between hamburgers and…that." Damn it. I still blush whenever I think about THAT. "Anyway, I better get going. School's about to end and I wanna grab my stuff and get out before the halls get crowded with the student body. Oh, and to avoid that pesky, chicken butt hair cut kid…"

Another small laugh. "I await your arrival."

"See you soon then." I sighed in relief. I always did love talking to my boyfriend. It made me feel so much better inside being able to let out my frustrations and not worry about sounding whiny. Why you ask? Cause he was just as bad sometimes…but in his own Itachi way.

Turning away from the fence, I made my way back into the building.

A couple of hours later, I pulled up to a set of sketchy looking apartments. But only certain people knew that the apartments looked this way to keep the tenants comfortable inside. I grabbed the food from the passenger seat, got out of the car and walked to the entrance. Punching a code into the keypad next to the door, I was granted access and walked into the lobby. The lobby had a very homey, welcoming feel, which carried throughout the rest of the apartment. Well, actually, the apartments were mansions in disguise*.

"Good evening Haruno-san! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes. You're going to see Uchiha-san again, right?" The guard at the desk nodded at the bag of food in my hand.

Smiling sheepishly, I shrugged and said, "Oh please Jiro-san. What have I told you about calling me Haruno-san? It's just Sakura. Anyway…Well, you caught me. And here I thought I was being so sneaky about it…"

Laughing at my sarcasm, the guard just waved me towards the elevator. "You better get going. Uchiha-san looked very stressed when he came back from the university earlier today."

Nodding, I went to the elevator and pressed the correct floor number and waited for the doors to shut. Luckily, there was no corny elevator music in the building and thankfully the elevator was fast enough to need elevator music. When it reached my destination, I walked off towards my boyfriend's door and pulled out my set of keys he gave me. Unlocking the door, I stated, "Tadaima." Then I shut the door behind me and took off my shoes.

Not seeing any life in the living room, I shrugged figuring he went out to get something. It wasn't the first time this has happened where I come to his home with him not here. Making my way to the kitchen, I started to reminisce about how Itachi and I got together.

_*Flashback*_

_I couldn't believe it. Sasuke left Naruto and I because we weren't "sophisticated" enough for him? What the hell? Looking around, I noticed that I had walked away from Sasuke's house and to the local park. No one was in sight. Sighing, I walked my ass over the nearest bench and plopped down. Cradling my head in my hands, my body started to shake with sobs that wanted to escape me. Sasuke, Naruto and I have been friends since we were in diapers. Literally. We all met at the daycare and formed an unbreakable bond. Or so I thought until today came._

_Naruto and I went to Sasuke's since he didn't show up at our "hangout spot" like normal. We knocked on the door politely, Mikoto-san opened the door and welcomed us with a warm smile which we returned. She let us in and let us go to Sasuke's room where he opened the door and then told us to get lost. Of course, I wasn't going to let that happen, so I stopped the door and shoved it open and walk past Sasuke. He sighed in frustration knowing that we weren't going to leave just yet._

_Taking a seat on his bed, cause that was the only safe spot in his room, and Naruto right next to me, I crossed my arms over my chest and demanded to know what was his problem. He merely stared at me before explaining that he came to a conclusion last night and that he didn't want to hang out with us anymore. Not only that, he said that he wasted the majority of his life by just hanging out with us. Naruto and I stared in shock before we started to yell at him for even thinking that and how the fuck he came to that thought. Seriously. We've been friends for fourteen years. You don't just throw that away at a thought. Naruto started to fight him in the room while I sat there fuming angrily before grabbing Sasuke and giving him one good punch in the face. He was out cold on the floor. Naruto and I stared at the unconscious body that was on the floor before Naruto plopped on the bed while I stood standing._

"_I'm going to stay so when he wakes up, I can beat the shit out him some more," Naruto stated._

_Still shaking in rage, I nodded my head and managed to grind out, "I'm going to go cool off."_

_And now I'm here at the park crying my eyes out cause I couldn't believe that one of my best friends decided to throw away the friendship we had made over the years._

"_Sakura-san?"_

_I paused in my sobbing to answer, "Who is it?"_

"_If you lifted your head from your hands, you would be able to see who it is," came the retort._

_Sniffling slightly and wiping the tears from my face, I faced the person who was talking to me with defiant eyes. But as soon as I made eye contact, I felt my anger melt away and I started to tear up again._

_Taking a seat next to me, the man said, "I heard what happened."_

"_Really now?" I spat out sarcastically._

_Shaking his head, he tried again. "I literally heard what happened. You forget my room is right next to Sasuke's."_

_I then blushed at the realization at what he meant. "Sorry for the noise," I sighed out._

"_It is no problem. I just thought Sasuke would think better of his friends…"_

"_Oh?"_

_Then silence engulfed us. It was awkward, it was just quiet._

_Then he turned towards me and asked, "Would you like to get something to drink? I think these things are best talked over with a comfort drink of some kind…"_

_Smiling ever so slightly, I nodded my head._

_After three hours of talking at a coffee shop, Itachi drove me home, walked me home and that's when I realized that this sorta turned into a date without meaning to. Looking up at him, I smiled and was about to thank him for spending time with me but I wasn't able to because his lips descended onto mine. It was a short chaste kiss, but it was a kiss none-the-less._

_I blushed and managed to say thanks before running into the safety of my home._

_The next day he called me and asked if I would like to hang out. Since then, we just hung out more and more, with Naruto on occasion, and then started dating._

_*End Flashback*_

Familiar, warm arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into a comforting embrace. The face of my boyfriend rested his chin on my shoulder and turned to kiss my cheek. "And just what you were thinking of with that wistful look upon your face?"

Snuggling into the embrace, I said, "Welcome home. I was thinking about when we started dating."

"Hm…I think I know what you're talking about…" Itachi teased.

Turning to face him, I quickly wiped the smirk from his face by pulling him down for a sweet kiss. Four years we have been dating. I could barely believe it. Especially since it was the older brother of my ex-best friend. Oh well. Life works in mysterious ways.

"I missed you," I murmured against his lips, my eyes barely open.

Nuzzling his nose against mine he agreed by kissing me, this time drawing it out. My hands quickly found themselves burying into Itachi's hair and gripping ever so slightly as he pushed against me. Moaning a little, our heads tilted ever so slightly and then the battle of tongues began. He lifted me on the counter and we continued kissing and touching each other sensually with silent promises of what was next to come.

"Hey Itachi, I need help with…something…WHAT THE HELL?" a voice rudely interrupted us.

Pulling away from Itachi, I could only glare at Sasuke with a look that promised death. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I snarled out.

Sasuke looked taken back at my attitude before yelling back, "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? What the fuck is going on here? Is this some sort of plan to get back at me Sakura?"

I was so angry, I was literally shaking from the rage I felt at the asshole that dare come here. This was my sanctuary. My place of reprieve. I started to hop down from the counter to give Sasuke a good thrashing before Itachi stopped me by holding my in place.

"I agree with Sakura, Sasuke…How did you even find out where I live? Mother and Father have no knowledge. Better yet, why are you back in Japan? You're supposed to be in Europe."

Scoffing, Sasuke bitterly replied, "I wanted to come back home. Is that such a crime? How did I find out? I followed you from when you came from the store after finding out that Mom and Dad couldn't tell me anything. Then I told the desk attendant that I'm your younger brother and here I am. Although I'm disturbed at the sight of my brother and former best friend shoving each other's tongues down each other's throats." He hissed out the last part.

Wrinkling my nose in distaste at the fact I had to even look at him, I pointedly looked away from him and crossed my arms in front of my chest. He just couldn't leave well enough alone, could he? Of course it would be too much ask for small miracles…Unless this was the chance for me to totally destroy him…? Yes, I believe that would be a great idea…The feeling of Itachi's hands on my hips tightening brought me out of my thoughts.

"I request that you leave my home immediately Sasuke. As you can see, Sakura and I are quite busy…" Itachi growled out.

"Yeah, about that…When did you two start seeing each other?" Sasuke asked.

"None of your fucking business," I snapped at him. "Just get your unwanted ass out of here and stay out!"

"Why Sakura, your temper is very unbecoming of you. You never would have spoken to me like this before…" Sasuke sensually said. Ew. Itachi thought so too, if his death grip on my hips were any indication.

Gently, I pushed Itachi away from me, earning a questioning look from Itachi, and hopped off the counter. Fixing my cold gaze on the asshole, I stated coldly. You and me, dojo. Now." I then stalked off towards a room in Itachi's home. It was a small, but very usable dojo. Complete with tatami mats for the floor and the traditional sliding paper doors.

"Dojo? What?" I heard Sasuke ask confused. I could feel Itachi's smirk when he realized what I was about to do.

Shrugging off the sweater that's apart of the school uniform, I took off the stupid bowtie at the neck, unbuttoned the top to buttons and methodically rolled up my sleeves so that they wouldn't get in the way. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I bit the hairtie from my wrist, slid it off and proceeded to tie my hair. Glancing at the entranceway, I saw Sasuke looking at my dubiously.

"And what exactly are we going to be doing Sakura?" Sasuke asked, still confused.

Allowing a smirk on my face, I stated with false cheer, "Why, I'm going to kick your ass Sasuke. Without Naruto's help this time. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Sasuke started to step backwards and out of the room, clearly remembering the last time he got beat up by Naruto and I, before he allowed a smirk of his own onto his face. But that wouldn't bother me. I know I'm going to win. Especially since I've been doing strength training as well as honing my fighting skills with Itachi. Which normally ended with us as a tangle of limbs…I blushed a little at the thought.

"Fine, you're on Sakura. Itachi cannot interfere with this fight though."

Shrugging I told him, "Of course not. He's just the referee and to make sure we don't destroy his home. Ready?" But I didn't even wait for his answer. Instead I rushed him and threw a punch.

He lifted his hand to block and grab mine, but he wasn't expecting the power that was behind the punch, so he stumbled back a little. Wasting no time, I started throwing punches in powerful combos that had Sasuke on the defense.

'Damn it…He's faster than he used to be…No problem, just got up the speed, right?' I thought cynically as I continued throwing punches and doubled the speed which caught him off guard. Then I kicked with my right leg, right inside his guard and let my foot connect with the bottom of him chin.

"Urk!" was the response. But I wasn't going to let him get away with just one hit. So I jumped on top of him and started pounding his face in. I unfortunately wasn't able to continue that seeing as he rolled us to where he was on top of me and held my wrists by my hips. Panting out, "Fuck Sakura, what the hell?" I could only figure out a way out of his hold. I was not comfortable being underneath him. Then I bucked my hips up to get him off which, thankfully, worked. I was on him again continually beating him up for the next twenty minutes. Every hit I landed on him was filled with the pain that he filled Naruto and I with. Every hit was to remind him of the friendship that we had. I didn't realize I was crying, but I was. That was when I heard a gentle, "Enough Sakura. That's enough." Then I was pulled into a gentle embrace, not minding that I had some blood on my hands and that I was shaking and sobbing.

"Sh…I have you. You're not alone. I have you Sakura," came the gentle voice of my boyfriend. Then I blacked out.

I woke up in Itachi's bed…minus Itachi. Where was he? Groaning at the soreness of my body, I suddenly remembered what happened before I woke up. I was beating the shit out of Sasuke…quite literally. So what, was he okay? Even though I hate the bastard, I didn't want to kill him. I sat up slowly, and looked around the dim room. Glancing at the clock, I saw that I was out for couple of hours and then I noticed there was a glass of water with a bottle of Tylenol. With a small smile, I took two pills, downed the water and made my way out of the bedroom. I heard voices in the living room and saw Itachi with his parents and a very beaten up Sasuke. I mentally winced at his face, since it seems I broke his nose and gave him two black eyes. Then I saw that his both of his arms were covered in bruises. He merely flinched under my assessing gaze.

"Sakura," Itachi called out to me. Drawing my eyes away from Sasuke to my boyfriend, I immediately relaxed and walked over to him.

Before sitting down next to Itachi, I bowed at the waist and said, "Konbanwa Mikoto-san, Fugaku-san, Sasuke-san." Then I sat down next to Itachi and felt my form mold next to his.

"Good evening Haruno-san," Fugaku said with a strain. He never did like me, but beating up one of his sons seems to have made that worse. "We have much to discuss."

Nodding my head in consent, I waited for him to chew my ass out. I felt Itachi tense next to me and I placed a comforting hand on his knee without looking at him. It's my fault that Sasuke was in the state he was in and I'll be grownup enough to take responsibility for my actions.

"Why did you attack Sasuke?"

"Because he was asking unnecessary questions as wells as sticking his nose where it does not belong," I stated simply. I wasn't afraid, surprisingly, for what I did to him. I know I could be sent straight to jail for what I did and lose my full-ride scholarship to Tokyo University, but all the same, I felt at peace with what I did. "I know those reasons are childish, but he crossed the line when he decided to talk about the past as if he never did what he did," I clenched a fist, "and I wasn't going to let that slide."

Fugaku and Mikoto regarded me seriously before Mikoto decided to speak. "And what did he do in the past?"

Narrowing my eyes, I realized that the parents didn't know what he told Naruto and I the last time I saw Sasuke. I clenched my fist tighter and felt my body shake with rage before I scoffed and pointedly looked at Sasuke. "Oh gee, Sasuke, I think this is where you take it away with the wonderful, kind words you told Naruto and I the last time we saw you. Why don't you tell them? Or are you too much of a fucking coward to do so?" I sneered out the last part.

Itachi and Sasuke's parents eyes widened at my complete change of tone. Of course, I've never been angry in front of them before, so of course they wouldn't know what I was like in this state. Sasuke merely sunk into the couch as much as he could without hurting himself anymore.

"Can't say it, can you? Well since you can't say it, I guess I will." Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself a little and then looked at the parents. "He said that he came to a conclusion one night that Naruto and I weren't his friends anymore. He didn't want to hang out with us anymore simply because we weren't "sophisticated" enough for him. Not only that, but he also said that he wasted so much time on us and that he wishes he came to his conclusion sooner." The room was deathly silent and then the Uchiha parents shifted uncomfortably at the tension that filled the space of Itachi's home.

"I see," Fugaku shifted uncomfortably. "Well then, we're going to take Sasuke home with us. He shouldn't even be here in the first place…"

My eyes widened, "Aren't you going to arrest me?"

Everyone in the room stared at me in shock. Especially Sasuke. What? I mean, I know that I almost killed the guy, shouldn't I be punished for what I did?

"Not tonight Sakura," Itachi said while standing up. Looking up at him, I knew he understood what I wanted to ask. "Sasuke is not pressing charges, therefore you're not going to get arrested."

"But I-" I started only to have Itachi shake his head.

Then Fugaku, Mikoto, and Sasuke finally left the mansion.

Silence fell over the two of us.

"I'm sorry," I whispered out. I wrapped my arms around myself feeling self-conscious. Though I liked having Itachi's eyes on me, I didn't want them on me at this moment. I felt terrible. I felt like a monster when I saw the tell-tale signs of bruises started on my knuckles. I was pulled into a tight embrace.

"He's still alive, isn't he?" came the teasing reply.

Stuttering a little, I pushed away from Itachi to look up at him to chew him out. But I didn't get the chance to since his mouth covered mine. Deciding giving in was better than fighting him, I did just that. I kissed back with passion that surprised us both. Breaking apart for much needed air, he said, "You know…It's been a while since we've done anything…Especially since school has taken over our lives ever so slightly." With this, he sensually ran his hands up and down my back, stopping briefly to massage a spot in small circles. I gasped when he cupped my derrière with his large hands. "How long exactly has it been since we've had sex?"

'Good question…It's been a couple of months at least cause of all the summer courses Itachi and were taking...and then school started up and last week was midterms for this semester…Okay, that's like, four months?' "Four?" I breathed out.

His gentle ministrations stopped and he pulled away from me and stared at my face before a smirk crept onto his face. "I see…We'll have to fix that then. We must definitely make up for all that time we didn't use making love with one another," he informed. Then he picked me up bridal style and walked to his room where we made up for all those months of not bedding one another.

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**Aaaaaaaand there you go! Please review if you can or if you'd like to :) Would love to get some feedback. Thanks for reading, if you actually read this…haha**


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